M THE RESULT OF A HEAD-ON COLLISION Such a celestial catastrophe is here exemplified in the spiral nebula in the Triangle, a revolving mass of gas and incandescent dust thrown out by two bursting suns The Life of a Star By Waldemar Kaempffert ILLIONS of years hence, how many we cannot even roughly determine, the sun will be reduced from a ball of glowing vapor to a gigantic black cinder rushing through space. Unwarmed by any central luminary, its crust will be washed by oceans of air liquefied by a cold too intense for any living creature to endure. Yet the sun will not be quite dead. Within its frozen 'shell a fierce heat will still be imprisoned, and compounds of terrific explosive energy will be stored. Like a huge celestial bomb the sun will swim through the heavens, searching for a chance flame which will ignite its fuse and release its pent force. Will the fuse ever be ignited, and if so, what will be the result? The answer has been given by Professor Svante Arrhenius, one of the most brilliant physicists of our time, in the form of a theory of star creation and world |